Further Reading

Company also commits to updating flagship phones for two years after release.

Most prominently, HTC Advantage will offer a free, one-time replacement for new buyers who crack their screens during the first six months of ownership. You can send your phone to HTC using a prepaid shipping label and get it back within 8-10 days, or you can get a replacement phone for $29 before you send the damaged one in for repair. Given how frequently you see people trying to use phones with busted screens, this deal will probably appeal to at least some new buyers.

The bad thing is that HTC Advantage only applies to people who bought their HTC One, One Max, or One Mini after today—if you bought your phone five months ago and crack the screen tomorrow, you're not going to get any help from HTC.

Other components of the HTC Advantage program include a commitment to Android updates to provide flagship phones for two years after they release, which the company promised last week in its reddit AMA session. It will also give new buyers 25GB to 50GB of free Google Drive space with the purchase of a new phone. While these benefits currently only apply to the HTC One, One Max, and One Mini, it's a pretty sure bet that they will extend to HTC's new flagship as well.

I don't own any HTC product but there are not company out there that will fix a cracked screen, unless it has a special and expensive warranty. The standard one year warranty in almost all smartphone companies does not include cracked screen.

Indeed, fuck them for offering you anything at all, how dare they. Clearly, they should be repairing screens for free for the first two years you own their phone, right?

That's what Samsung does {at least here in Africa}, this was probably the biggest single thing that persuaded me to upgrade to a galaxy s4 instead of the Z1 or G2.

Quote:

(ADH), which stands for Accidental Damage from Handling, is a unique product offering designed exclusively for Samsung Electronics Africa as a world first from a Device manufacturer point of view. Initially ADH will be offered on the Samsung Galaxy S4 Smartphone; however more Samsung Smart Devices will follow and will be eligible for the ADH customer benefit in future.

ADH will be incorporated into the existing Samsung 24-month standard factory warranty on the GALAXY S4 and will protect your device from accidental damage during normal use. It will cover screen repairs and liquid damage repairs to your device that is damaged within the Samsung 24 month warranty period. Each Device is allowed 2 incidents per 24-month period:• 1 Screen repair and 1 liquid damage repair

I don't own any HTC product but there are not company out there that will fix a cracked screen, unless it has a special and expensive warranty. The standard one year warranty in almost all smartphone companies does not include cracked screen.

Samsung {Africa} includes two full liquid or screen repairs for free as detailed in link above.

Free, one-time screen replacement for the first 6 months you own the phone? If it's a one-time replacement for free, why not offer it for the full 24 months most users own their phone? I think that would go a lot further for a number of people.

Free, one-time screen replacement for the first 6 months you own the phone? If it's a one-time replacement for free, why not offer it for the full 24 months most users own their phone? I think that would go a lot further for a number of people.

Because it's designed to get positive press to consumers for "free screen replacement" without 2 years worth of potential financial burden for replacements.

Free, one-time screen replacement for the first 6 months you own the phone? If it's a one-time replacement for free, why not offer it for the full 24 months most users own their phone? I think that would go a lot further for a number of people.

Because it's designed to get positive press to consumers for "free screen replacement" without 2 years worth of potential financial burden for replacements.

Exactly. Not to mention, people are more careful with new phones. I would bet if you charted how long a person has owned a phone before cracking the screen you would find fewer people crack them early in ownership as opposed to later.

Thanks to the way phone plans work, all cellphone companies should support their product for 2 years after the last regular sale of the phone. It bothers me to see Android phones still on contract that are basically abandoned by their manufacturer.

One free screen replacement during the lifetime of the phone would be an excellent policy. An arbitrary 6 month cutoff is just lame.

Sounds great! Now, if they could do something about the One's crappy power button...

Mine is perfect, what's wrong with yours?

The power button has a tendency to compact into the case, losing its click functionality. Additionally, it becomes unresponsive, making waking the phone a chore. Add an Otter case and it feels like a spelunking job just to wake the phone from sleep mode.

I thought I'd just gotten a lemon until looking online. This is a fairly common issue with these phones. Count yourself lucky you don't have to fight with it.

Thanks to the way phone plans work, all cellphone companies should support their product for 2 years after the last regular sale of the phone. It bothers me to see Android phones still on contract that are basically abandoned by their manufacturer.

One free screen replacement during the lifetime of the phone would be an excellent policy. An arbitrary 6 month cutoff is just lame.

In a perfect world, I agree with you.

But there are always those that ruin it for the rest of us. I worked at a university that had comprehensive insurance on all laptops bought by students through the student stores. Sure enough, at the end of the fourth year students would (literally!) run over their laptops with their cars and get replacements. It was the same model, but they were reconditioned so in much better shape than the ones they mistreated knowing they'd have it replaced later.

And there was a bicycle helmet manufacturer who included replacement after and accident (which makes great sense since a helmet is just good for one accident) but had to stop since folks would intentionally destroy them to get new ones once the model changed or it looked a bit worn. The same was true with carbon fiber forks.

We berate corporations for being greedy, but often times it is we, the consumer, who are making them do these contrived things so that they aren't taken advantage of. In this case, perhaps folks would crack their screen at the end of 2 years just to get a new one that is not scratched or without some other imperfection and this is HTC's way of limiting that exposure. Or they could just be looking for advertising, but I'm sure the 24 month guarantee would be much more likely if folks would treat their phones as if they didn't have it and wouldn't otherwise try to game the system.

I did buy a 6-month "free replacement even if it's your fault"-plan with it; though. We've already had two phones (both LG Nexuses, incidentally) crack for no obvious reason within the first week, and getting any screen damage covered under warranty is impossible ("you must have dropped it"), so it seemed worth the money. This looks like it would have saved me that extra money, if it applies in Norway.

Last week I knocked my month old HTC Desire 601* off the counter and it landed face down on the tile floor, badly cracking the screen. I'm a little disappointed because the iPhone 4s I previously had survived similar drops with no ill effects. And the four repair shops I showed it to wouldn't even touch it - citing lack of parts and difficulty of repair. Nor could I find any repair guides and the price of a replacement screen is $100+.

Fortunately the touchscreen and LCD still work. So I've applied a screen protector to keep it from getting worse.

Thanks to the way phone plans work, all cellphone companies should support their product for 2 years after the last regular sale of the phone. It bothers me to see Android phones still on contract that are basically abandoned by their manufacturer.

It's an interesting idea, but it'll never happen as a phone contract is nothing more than a voice and data subscription service and a loan (with a 2 year payback and no automatic termination when you've fully paid it off).

What you're suggesting is analogous to my mortgage company covering all wear and tear of my newly bought flat for the next 25 years.

In reality, the company that built it guarantee it for a couple of years and then I'm on my own. The length of my mortgage doesn't make the slightest difference.

I think a far better option would be to just make it cheap to replace a cracked screen. Surely that's a solvable problem?

I can replace the windscreen in my car for less than the price of a new screen for my iPhone. It's ridiculous.

With how often screens break, it should be a simple matter of loosening the screws on the bottom, pull the glass out, clean everything, fit a new sheet of glass and tighten up the screws.

But instead you have to disassemble everything and the LCD/glass are fused together driving the price up with expensive parts and labor.

I understand the screen is nicer/has less glare when they're fused together but I think it's a bad compromise. Most people stick a screen protector over their phone anyway, which *really* screws with the optics. They wouldn't have to do that if the screen was cheaper to replace.

Thanks to the way phone plans work, all cellphone companies should support their product for 2 years after the last regular sale of the phone. It bothers me to see Android phones still on contract that are basically abandoned by their manufacturer.

It's an interesting idea, but it'll never happen as a phone contract is nothing more than a voice and data subscription service and a loan (with a 2 year payback and no automatic termination when you've fully paid it off).

What you're suggesting is analogous to my mortgage company covering all wear and tear of my newly bought flat for the next 25 years.

In reality, the company that built it guarantee it for a couple of years and then I'm on my own. The length of my mortgage doesn't make the slightest difference.

It can happen, my carrier offers insurance covering up to $1,000 repair/replacement with a $50 excess. It adds $10/month to your bill. The excess is $150 if you make "frequent" claims.

That works out to $240 if you don't claim anything, and $290 if you claim once in your 24 month contract. I opted out since I have historically spent less than that on repairs/replacements... but it was a close call, since it wasn't very long ago when I paid $390 to replace a water damaged smartphone. Most of my repairs have been closer to $100 though, so I didn't go for insurance.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.